Author's Note: This song, entitled "Suddenly," is not performed in the stage musical Les Misérables. It was composed specifically to be included in the movie adaptation of the musical. The director Tom Hooper and composers Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil wanted to include a longer sequence about Jean Valjean adopting Cosette, and so composed a new song about them. It's really beautiful, even if Hugh Jackman isn't the best singer. If you haven't heard it, listen to the clip on iTunes, or watch the behind-the-scenes video on YouTube.

This takes place roughly from the time Belle and Rumpelstiltskin meet to the period during Season 2, prior to the events of "The Outsider." If you're interested, I've written more about them in my "Missing Moments" oneshots.

Suddenly I see

Suddenly it starts

When two anxious hearts

Beat as one.

Yesterday I was alone

Today you walk beside me

Something still unclear

Something not yet here

Has begun.

The first secret Belle learned about Rumplestiltskin, she learned from her own deduction. She found the room containing what remained of Baelfire's belongings. Since she had already figured out what this could mean, he didn't hesitate long before confirming it.

"There was a son. I lost him … as I did his mother."

She knew, then, that he had once been with a woman. She, on the other hand, had never known man. She was still young, unlike him; even ignoring the fact that he'd been alive for over three hundred years, he had aged almost fifty years by the time he became the Dark One.

From the day he revealed that he had lost a family—a wife and a son—Belle felt sympathy for him, and knew that he had sorrow which he tried to hide. It took time for her to earn Rumplestiltskin's trust, and for him to have the courage to let her in.

"No one could ever, ever love me!"

That was one of the last things he had said to her, as she remembered once the Curse broke. But when she told him, "I love you," he responded, "Yes," as though he believed her now. Perhaps the sorrow of her supposed death had made him realize that he did, in fact, love her.

Suddenly the world

Seems a different place

Somehow full of grace

And delight.

How was I to know

That so much love

Was held inside me?

Something fresh and young

Something still unsung

Fills the night.

"I have lost so much that I loved. I didn't want to lose you again … without you knowing everything."

But even then, he hadn't told her everything. He couldn't tell her about Milah. First he hid it because there was no need for her to know; then, when she continued to reach out to him through courtship, he hid it because if she knew that he had killed his wife—well, then, there was no reason she shouldn't think that he wouldn't hurt or kill her either. She wouldn't trust him anymore; and Belle's trust meant everything to him.

Despite what he said about the chipped cup and Baelfire's shawl, Belle was his greatest treasure. Not that he viewed her as a possession, something he owned. He knew that she wasn't truly his to lose. He let her come and go of her own free will. But he did view her as precious, worthy and in needed of protection.

How was I to know at last

That happiness can come so fast?

Trusting me the way you do

I'm so afraid of failing you

Just a child who cannot know

That danger follows where I go

There are shadows everywhere

And memories I cannot share

Sometimes it felt as though their relationship moved slowly, gradually, at a healthy pace. There had been the time when they lived together in the Enchanted Forest; and now they were courting—or, as the younger people of the town would call it, dating—in Storybrooke.

And then, there were times when things between them changed suddenly and drastically. Like the day he threw her out. And the day she returned to him. Though neither of them mentioned it, they both knew from experience that things could change, for the better, or for the worse.

That made them even more determined to enjoy whatever time they had together.

Nevermore alone

Nevermore apart

You have warmed my heart

Like the sun.

You have brought the gift of life

And love so long denied me.

Suddenly I see

What I could not see

Something suddenly

Has begun.